The Tale of the Three Apples
A classic murder mystery from the Arabian Nights. Caliph Harun al-Rashid orders his vizier Jafar to solve the murder of a young woman found dismembered in a chest. The investigation leads to her husband, who confesses after returning home to find a strange apple in her possession and killed her in jealous rage. However, the actual chain of events involves a slave who had taken the apple from the caliph's own palace. Jafar is given three days to find the killer or face execution. The story is notable as an early example of the 'locked room' mystery structure and detective fiction.